A research on the structure and decoration of scientific-religious buildings built in Shah Abbas 1 era (Case study: Molla Abdollah mosque-school) Download PDF

Mosque-schools as places for the integration of science and worship, are of great importance in Isfahani architecture style of Safavid era. Molla Abdollah mosque-school is one of the oldest sample of such architecture style as well as one of few scientific-worshiping monuments built in Shah Abbas I era. In this regard, in the present study, it has been tried to study and identify the typology of architecture structure and decorations of the mentioned building during integrative process to answer the main question raised in this study: what specific features does Molla Abdollah mosque-school have in terms of architecture structure and dependent decorations? In terms of method, the present study is descriptive-analytical research. Also, the data was collected by desk research and field observations and the data was analyzed qualitatively. The results show that in terms of structure, Molla Abdollah two-Iwan building including school (chambers), mosque and two Iwans, had been distinctly built from other similar buildings and has many notable points. Also, in terms of decorations, the largest share belongs to the exquisite mosaic tiles with big plant motifs and arabesques that their instances have been seen less within the same building. In addition, in terms of materials, the inscriptions of this building are on the bed of tile and stone with Bannai Kufic, Thuluth and Nastaʿlīq scripts and in terms of contents, Kufic inscriptions are exclusively for the praise of Imam Ali (AS), Thuluth inscriptions have Quranic themes, the hadith and narratives and Nastaliq script was used for the only stone inscription of the building with the theme of deed of endowment.